In 1969, after more than a decade of commercial design work, Robert Overby decided to become a full-time artist. The oft-cited turning point was an assignment to procure an art collection for the corporate offices of CBS. Working with a relatively tight budget, Overby came through with a remarkably rich and diverse body of work that ran the gamut of fine and applied art and included everything from a Picasso bookplate to a circuit board courtesy of Lockheed Electronics. And, famously, he cut corners in the original-painting department by making a few of them himself. There is no doubt that with these Stella-esque hard-edge abstract works Overby discovered that art could be both fun and easy.

Starting somewhat late, at the age of thirty-four, Overby compensated with an enormously prolific studio schedule. The self-published “red book,” which documents in reverse order the artist’s output